LETTERS for March 25 issue

March 25, 2010

A “friend of a friend” came up with this idea of dealing with Furlough Fridays, and I think it has merit.

Since most parents have to pay for child care on Fridays now, what if they paid the school instead for that one day of child care?

Let’s say the parents pay $30-40 a day for child care on Friday. If the classroom has 25-30 students, and each parent paid the school instead, that would mean the school would be getting $ 750-$1,200 for each class.

I would guess that teachers make about $300 per day, so the balance would be going for clerical staffing, janitorial services, principal salary, etc. (otherwise called “administrative expenses”).

It’s a very simple solution. Of course, details would have to be worked out, but I think the idea is workable.

GORDON C. COCKETT, Lahaina

REEF MONITORING PORTAL IS GREAT

I attended the Coral Reef Alliance educational workshop on March 11 to learn more about the Coral Reef Data Monitoring Portal. What a wonderful new tool for our community! It really is a “one-stop shop for community-based coral reef monitoring in Hawaii.”

I have already helped a friend to fill out a report. It is easy to use with many helpful links. If you are at all concerned about the status of our nearshore waters, please visit the site at monitoring.coral.org/user and check it out.

I am extremely thankful that we have such visionaries as Robin Knox, Liz Foote and Darla White working together on Maui to advance our efforts to monitor and report what is being observed, with the hope that it will make a difference when it comes to federal funding for solving environmental challenges.

I also went to the Surfrider Foundation meeting the night before at the same location and was very excited with what they are doing on Maui. Overall, I am very optimistic about the direction of everyone’s efforts and hopeful we can work together for a better Maui Nui Marine environment.

TAMARA PALTIN, Kahana

ACT COULD HELP END JOB DISCRIMINATION

In the March 4, 2010 issue of Lahaina News, Dr. Michael Ra Bouchard wrote in favor of repealing the U.S. Military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. I heartily agree with him, and I would like to add my comments regarding a similar bill currently being discussed in the U.S. House of Representatives.

I am referring to the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA). In 29 states in our country, it is still legal to fire someone solely because they are lesbian or gay.

The State of Hawaii already has laws protecting minorities, including gays and lesbians, from such unfair treatment.

What is needed, however, is a FEDERAL law that will protect gays and lesbians from job discrimination. Fortunately, support is mounting nationally, and the momentum is building for the passage of an inclusive ENDA.

But we need to let the U.S. Congress know that we ALL support such an act. It is not too late to write, call or e-mail your representative in U.S. Congress about ENDA. Simply check any of the online sources to find the name and addresses for your representatives. Then, tell your representatives that you urge them to vote “yes” on ENDA!

Passage of ENDA is crucial for many millions of American workers. Gay and lesbian workers deserve equal treatment under the law, and ENDA will provide a step in that direction.

LEE GARROW, Lahaina

STROLLERS ARE TOUGH TO STOW

Some of us have noticed modern day baby strollers at the airport or various public places.

Baby strollers are getting as large as Volkswagens. They seem to be large enough to have stereos, auto-bottle feeders, cell phones, diaper containers, toy boxes and room for a friend.

We can live with them most of the time, except when frantic parents find out the stroller won’t fit in an airplane. They clog the entrance to the plane, then end up stuffing the content of the stroller in the compartment over our heads. It’s like stuffing a marshmallow into a ketchup bottle.

Our recent tsunami scare put a lot of us locals in a frenzy — guests and visitors alike. I was on Oahu when we got the tsunami warning. When I spoke to my mom to see how my family was doing, she told me everyone was fine, but my aunt experienced a not-so-nice gesture at a Maui store.

At the time, my aunt was in the store because there was supposed to be a huge blowout sale to lure customers in to spend their money. When store officials learned that customers would be coming in to buy things due to this devastating news, all of the “SALE” signs that were posted up the previous work day were hysterically pulled off the shelves IMMEDIATELY! Talk about making a buck!!

Don’t we the people make the stores prosperous with our spending? Why did it seem that the corporation could use devastation to make us buy things at outstanding prices in time of crisis?

Take off the sale signs to make money? Don’t treat us like that! It’s because of the PEOPLE of Maui that your store is still in operation. Shame, shame, shame on you!!

CHARITY HAUPU, Lahaina

NATIONAL DEBT ESCALATING UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA

In response to letters in defense of President Obama, I have a few things to point out.

One, special deals with the SEIU (Service Employees International Union), who supported his campaign and got a multibillion dollar sweetheart deal in the health care “bill.” It’s just another day in the corrupt, special interests Babylon we call Washington.

Dare I mention the national debt, which Mr. Obama and his cronies are spending and pushing to record levels, taxing people who haven’t even been born to balance out their “pilau” accounting practices?

Charisma doesn’t solve the REAL issues that face our state and nation. Many letters are used to drum up support for the WORST policies our nation has ever seen. Let’s clean up the lies and corruption and hope America and Hawaii will have a future. Or will we be owned — we are a debtor nation — by China, with free speech stifled forever?

On a positive note, Mr. Obama had the unfortunate experience of his inexperience of how the game is played, and his far left-wing ideology (that makes liberty just a seven-letter word) has hijacked the Democratic Party.